PPP-religious parties talks under way

Karachi - Keeping aside their ideology, the PPP and other parties have started a negotiation process for seat adjustment to win over the anti-MQM vote in the City.The contacts among the PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, JUI-F and other parties yet to yield consensus for seat adjustment as all sides so far are not ready to show flexibility accommodating each other. Despite having ideological distance, the religio-political parties and PPP want to join hands to bag the anti-MQM votes in the City. Sources said the parties have established contacts at the constituency level but could not reach any consensus as all of them claim to have superiority against each other and more vote-bank in the areas. It is believed if the PPP and religio-political parties fail to accommodate each other, the ultimate beneficiary of the neutral vote bank would be the MQM in upcoming elections. Talking to TheNation, PPP leader Taj Haider confirmed his party is in negotiations with the JI, JUI-F, JUP-Noorani, Sunni Tehreek and other parties for seat adjustment in Karachi. He said his party’s leaders are in contact with the opposition parties but negotiations, he said, have not proved fruitful. He feared if the parties could not reach a consensus for seat adjustment, they would suffer political loss in elections.When contacted, JUI-F leader Qari Usman confirmed his party’s talks with the PPP. However, he said the negotiation process would not prove fruitful as both the parties are not ready to accommodate each other. He commented the parties are not serious in seat adjustment to win over the anti-MQM vote in Karachi.Citing the failure of 10-party alliance, JUI-F’s Qari Usman said experience of the opposition parties’ alliance remained unfruitful in Sindh. However, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti contradicted the news item, declaring his party would not enter into any alliance with the PPP. Meanwhile, the PPP Sindh has written a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan, asking for deployment of Army troops on sensitive polling stations in Karachi. Besides, the former ruling party in its letter to the observer missions urged them to visit and observe the sensitive polling stations in the City.